Ordering merchandise - no product descriptions, photos, info.

WinsomeWorks

It seems rather bizarre to me that a photo site has, of all things, no photos of the merchandise offered for purchase! It's bad enough that there are no photos, but there's not even enough info. or descriptive language to encourage sales at all. Even I, as a SmugPro, was frustrated in trying to place an order for merchandise. I had to try to chase around after the info. by going on BayPhoto's & EZ prints' sites, and it was highly frustrating. Before I did that, I had to try to figure out on whose site I should be trying to find the merchandise. I wanted to order some magnets, and all the descriptions say is "large" and "small"! For heaven's sakes, not even a size is given! For the project I'm doing, I needed sizes & needed to know what material the magnets are made from.

This is not good for sales AT ALL! Now I am not one bit surprised that I've never sold any merchandise except to myself. And I doubt I'll see any sales of other special photo products if there's not any descriptions of a product. What's a "photo panel"? What's a "post-it poster"? How many pieces are in the photo puzzle? What does the mahogany desk organizer look like? How big are the coasters? What are the t-shirts made of? There are many items where it would sure be nice to know if they have rounded or sharp edges. What material are panels made of?

There are also some odd steps in ordering products. I don't see the point of having to "change product" as a very first step. Why not simply show at least a basic list of products right at the beginning? There's plenty of space for it. And it should be obvious even on the gallery page (when you click on "buy") that there are photos, merchandise, and the other items. Right now, it's not even clear until you click on "Change product" that there are other things besides 4x6 photos available. So one needs to click through 4 times before seeing any merchandise (buy>photos in this gallery> change product> merchandise...) Seems very strange & cumbersome to me. Maybe all that black space with white print looks "clean" to someone. To me, it just doesn't say "buy me". It says, "I'm gonna make you work to find what you want". I'd like to see & show off examples of what my photos might look like on all these handsome products, ya know?

Andy

Hi Anna Lisa, have you seen our full catalog pages? They're linked from every public smugmug.com page:
http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/ABP

in the footer.

There, each product has descriptions, and many (like the merchandise) have photos.

We're planning on adding some cool new pro tools to better show off what you sell, and what you sell it for, in the future - and more goodies in the cart, too.

There are two ways to buy - buy multiples (you have to choose what product you want to buy multiples of) or buy this photo - and there you can pick any product in the catalog.

WinsomeWorks

Andy wrote:

Hi Anna Lisa, have you seen our full catalog pages? They're linked from every public smugmug.com page:
http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/ABP

in the footer.

There, each product has descriptions, and many (like the merchandise) have photos.

We're planning on adding some cool new pro tools to better show off what you sell, and what you sell it for, in the future - and more goodies in the cart, too.

There are two ways to buy - buy multiples (you have to choose what product you want to buy multiples of) or buy this photo - and there you can pick any product in the catalog.

Andy, OH my. Nope, I never found those catalog pages. And if I didn't find them after searching all over while I was ordering, my customers are never going to find them. Somehow, they must be clearly visible & directly from the early pages of the ordering process. Otherwise, they are basically useless! And that's a real shame, because now that I actually see them, I see they have all the info. & photos I was wanting while I was ordering. As they are now, these pages are fully removed from the ordering process, so I don't see how anyone would know where to look. I thought I remembered that in the old ordering process, I found all this easily while considering what to order.

Allen

WinsomeWorks wrote:

Andy, OH my. Nope, I never found those catalog pages. And if I didn't find them after searching all over while I was ordering, my customers are never going to find them. Somehow, they must be clearly visible & directly from the early pages of the ordering process. Otherwise, they are basically useless! And that's a real shame, because now that I actually see them, I see they have all the info. & photos I was wanting while I was ordering. As they are now, these pages are fully removed from the ordering process, so I don't see how anyone would know where to look. I thought I remembered that in the old ordering process, I found all this easily while considering what to order.

You can add a catalog link to your buy button, see #5 on this page.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=135068

See it in action, check my site and the buy button ... err ... purchase options button.

Dota

Allen wrote:

You can add a catalog link to your buy button, see #5 on this page.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=135068

See it in action, check my site and the buy button ... err ... purchase options button.

By looking at your site, I see the catalog options listed for EZ Print. Is the same thing available for Bay Photo where they list the catalog WITHOUT the base price?

Andy

Dota wrote:

By looking at your site, I see the catalog options listed for EZ Print. Is the same thing available for Bay Photo where they list the catalog WITHOUT the base price?

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/B

Dota

Andy wrote:

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/B

THANK YOU


Now I just got to wait for the site to come back. No rush on my part.

WinsomeWorks

javascript to add the catalog link to buy button

Allen wrote:

You can add a catalog link to your buy button, see #5 on this page.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=135068

See it in action, check my site and the buy button ... err ... purchase options button.

Thanks, Allen-- after chasing around a bit, I found this javascript (below) by John Friend & he says to add it to our bottom javascript. I assume it's what I saw in action on your site. My question is, does this script make the "View catalog" link wise to the fact of which photo service we are using? I have different services applied to different galleries. Will it take the buyer to the correct catalog based on which service I've listed for that gallery? Here's the script I found:

YE.onDOMReady(AddItemsToBuyButton);

function AddItemsToBuyButton()
{
var buyButton = YAHOO.widget.Button.getButton("buyButton");
if (buyButton)
{
var newBuyItem = { text: "View Catalog", url: "http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/", target: "_blank"};
buyButton.getMenu().addItem(newBuyItem);
}
}

Allen

WinsomeWorks wrote:

Thanks, Allen-- after chasing around a bit, I found this javascript (below) by John Friend & he says to add it to our bottom javascript. I assume it's what I saw in action on your site. My question is, does this script make the "View catalog" link wise to the fact of which photo service we are using? I have different services applied to different galleries. Will it take the buyer to the correct catalog based on which service I've listed for that gallery? Here's the script I found:

YE.onDOMReady(AddItemsToBuyButton);

function AddItemsToBuyButton()
{
var buyButton = YAHOO.widget.Button.getButton("buyButton");
if (buyButton)
{
var newBuyItem = { text: "View Catalog", url: "http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/", target: "_blank"};
buyButton.getMenu().addItem(newBuyItem);
}
}

That puts in a specific link so only one lab can be used. Maybe with
some IF statements you can check for different galleries and use two
links.

btw, what to do with popular or keyword gallery photos that could have a different lab from it's original gallery?

WinsomeWorks

Allen wrote:

That puts in a specific link so only one lab can be used. Maybe with
some IF statements you can check for different galleries and use two
links.

btw, what to do with popular or keyword gallery photos that could have a different lab from it's original gallery?

Oh brother. What a mess. Why can't they just put these pages where they belong-- with the ordering process? All these thousands of pros here shouldn't have to put in specific script just so that customers can see what they're ordering. It's just nuts. I have reasons for different services partly based on sizes offered (one of them doesn't offer 9x12, which is a pain if you want full-frame on certain original ratios) & also based on finish or price in some cases.

As to your question, yes, that was one of my many questions originally when smart galleries & collecting photos came down the pike. I forgot to ask it. Gurus??? Any answer on that one? Cuz I don't know what happens in that case. While ordering, it should be clear which service the order is going through, but it's not, so I just tried to figure out by clicking on "buy" in a gallery of collected photos, and I couldn't figure it out....

So... next question. Can anyone tell me how to do the "IF" statements that would link to the correct service's catalog for my customers who click on "buy"? (until a smarter catalog installation happens...)

Andy

WinsomeWorks wrote:

Oh brother. What a mess. Why can't they just put these pages where they belong-- with the ordering process? All these thousands of pros here shouldn't have to put in specific script just so that customers can see what they're ordering. It's just nuts.

Hi, I'm sorry this frustrates you - as I've said, improvements here are on the list of things to do. In the meantime, it hasn't stopped our pros from earning $millions of dollars in pro sales commissions. Can we do it better? You bet. And we will.

Allen

WinsomeWorks wrote:

...
So... next question. Can anyone tell me how to do the "IF" statements that would link to the correct service's catalog for my customers who click on "buy"? (until a smarter catalog installation happens...)

I would think this could be written, have no idea exact code, but in this logic.

IF gallery is xxxxxxx OR yyyyyyy OR zzzzz

var newBuyItem = { text: "View Catalog", url: "http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/B", target: "_blank"};
buyButton.getMenu().addItem(newBuyItem);

otherwise do this

var newBuyItem = { text: "View Catalog", url: "http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/", target: "_blank"};
buyButton.getMenu().addItem(newBuyItem);

WinsomeWorks

Andy wrote:

Hi, I'm sorry this frustrates you - as I've said, improvements here are on the list of things to do. In the meantime, it hasn't stopped our pros from earning $millions of dollars in pro sales commissions. Can we do it better? You bet. And we will.

Well, that's good-- it's just a bit hard to see why the catalog was once there as part of the ordering process & then later ended up not even being visible. Andy, would you have an answer for Allen's and my question? I need to decide pronto how to handle this-- I shouldn't have even had galleries up without having this figured out... the question is: "what to do with popular or keyword gallery photos that could have a different lab from its original gallery?" (I use both labs... do I need to change this now that we have virtual photos & galleries?)

And Allen, I'm trying to understand how one would use that script. I'm not very handy with this stuff. I'm not clear on how it gets used with the other original one that John wrote. Just add the parts you mentioned? But I guess you're saying it's not really "press-ready" yet anyway. I guess I need to start by getting rid of John's script in my javascript for now until we figure this out. People will just not know what they're ordering till SmugMug changes this. Partly what's adding to my disgruntlement is that I had an order a couple weeks ago that simply disappeared & never came, after spending a long time trying to find descriptions of what I was ordering. I was planning to use the order while my daughter was home from college. It's being taken care of, but 2 wks. later, I still don't have the stuff. I think the mail service lost it, not Bay or EZ or Smug, but I just wish I had all the time back that I spent looking for a buried catalog that I never did find. I can't help it if it freaks me out a little that even Mall-Wart has a catalog handy & we don't!

SteveM

WinsomeWorks wrote:

Well, that's good-- it's just a bit hard to see why the catalog was once there as part of the ordering process & then later ended up not even being visible. Andy, would you have an answer for Allen's and my question? I need to decide pronto how to handle this-- I shouldn't have even had galleries up without having this figured out... the question is: "what to do with popular or keyword gallery photos that could have a different lab from its original gallery?" (I use both labs... do I need to change this now that we have virtual photos & galleries?)

And Allen, I'm trying to understand how one would use that script. I'm not very handy with this stuff. I'm not clear on how it gets used with the other original one that John wrote. Just add the parts you mentioned? But I guess you're saying it's not really "press-ready" yet anyway. I guess I need to start by getting rid of John's script in my javascript for now until we figure this out. People will just not know what they're ordering till SmugMug changes this. Partly what's adding to my disgruntlement is that I had an order a couple weeks ago that simply disappeared & never came, after spending a long time trying to find descriptions of what I was ordering. I was planning to use the order while my daughter was home from college. It's being taken care of, but 2 wks. later, I still don't have the stuff. I think the mail service lost it, not Bay or EZ or Smug, but I just wish I had all the time back that I spent looking for a buried catalog that I never did find. I can't help it if it freaks me out a little that even Mall-Wart has a catalog handy & we don't!

Hi Anna,

I'm afraid we don't have a good solution for keyword, popular, and collected galleries in regards to showing a specific catalog/link right now. The "Buy>This Photo" option will show product descriptions (no photos just yet). The "Buy>Photos in this gallery" option is designed to purchase lots of images of the same product at once quickly and I'm sorry we were a bit shortsighted and can't offer photos or product descriptions. We assumed folks using this option would know what they were after, again admittedly perhaps a bit short-sighted.

Instead of trying to integrate two separate catalogs in an interactive way, you might consider adding another area to get your customers familiar with the products you do offer, such as a "Products" tab or gallery on your site. Our great Dgrinners can help with that.

As for your lost order, can you let us know the order number for us to look into? We'd prefer to handle that through the Help Desk for your privacy. You're always covered by the SmugMug guarantee, http://www.smugmug.com/prints/our-guarantee.mg even if USPS fumbled the order.

WinsomeWorks

Orders from collected photo galleries

SteveM wrote:

Hi Anna,

I'm afraid we don't have a good solution for keyword, popular, and collected galleries in regards to showing a specific catalog/link right now. The "Buy>This Photo" option will show product descriptions (no photos just yet). The "Buy>Photos in this gallery" option is designed to purchase lots of images of the same product at once quickly and I'm sorry we were a bit shortsighted and can't offer photos or product descriptions. We assumed folks using this option would know what they were after, again admittedly perhaps a bit short-sighted.

Instead of trying to integrate two separate catalogs in an interactive way, you might consider adding another area to get your customers familiar with the products you do offer, such as a "Products" tab or gallery on your site. Our great Dgrinners can help with that.

As for your lost order, can you let us know the order number for us to look into? We'd prefer to handle that through the Help Desk for your privacy. You're always covered by the SmugMug guarantee, http://www.smugmug.com/prints/our-guarantee.mg even if USPS fumbled the order.

As I said, the order is being taken care of. I haven't gotten it yet, but hopefully it's on the way. Itsure would be great to be refunded postage when this happens, especially if one has paid extra for faster delivery, but I s'pose if USPS doesn't refund SmugMug, you can't refund customers. I'm glad it happened to me and not a customer, actually! Anyway, as for the catalog-- I don't see how adding a products tab would be much different from having the catalog somewhere else on the page. I guess it would be more visible, but I don't think I can figure out a way to handle it since I use both companies.

I still am not clear what happens to actual orders in smart galleries or collected photo galleries. When a customer orders, does one company trump the other, or what? I don't see how they'd have certain photos in one gallery fulfilled by one company, and other photos in one gallery fulfulled by another. For instance, I have some of my family photo galleries listed with EZ Prints, and some portfolio galleries listed with Bay Photo. If someone ordered from a gallery of collected photos that draws on both types of original gallery, where would their order be fulfilled?

WinsomeWorks

Anyone have any answers to my last question? I really should know so I can decide what to do with this 2-company issue. Thanks!

takeflightphoto

WinsomeWorks wrote:

Anyone have any answers to my last question? I really should know so I can decide what to do with this 2-company issue. Thanks!

The orders in collected galleries are fulfilled by the lab that was originally specified on a particular photo. If you go out and collect some Bay and some EZP, then they will be sent to the labs that the Pro stated. No different that if someone ordered from different galleries on your site that you had set up to go to Bay or EZP. Your customer is making ONE purchase and to them it matters not. SM sorts it out for you and for them.

SteveM

takeflightphoto wrote:

The orders in collected galleries are fulfilled by the lab that was originally specified on a particular photo. If you go out and collect some Bay and some EZP, then they will be sent to the labs that the Pro stated. No different that if someone ordered from different galleries on your site that you had set up to go to Bay or EZP. Your customer is making ONE purchase and to them it matters not. SM sorts it out for you and for them.

Absolutely correct. All Collected or Smart Gallery photos respect the settings from the original gallery, including security, largest viewing size, lab and color choice, and pricing.

If you have a Bay Photo priced gallery, but offer merchandise (mugs, puzzles, key tags, etc.), you're essentially doing this already as all merchandise is printed by EZ Prints, as gift items aren't available through Bay Photo.

Shout with more questions!

Allen

SteveM wrote:

Absolutely correct. All Collected or Smart Gallery photos respect the settings from the original gallery, including security, largest viewing size, lab and color choice, and pricing.

If you have a Bay Photo priced gallery, but offer merchandise (mugs, puzzles, key tags, etc.), you're essentially doing this already as all merchandise is printed by EZ Prints, as gift items aren't available through Bay Photo.

Shout with more questions!

Just curious, how is the shipping handled for "up to 50 prints"? There is a
difference between the two labs and this would more then double the total
shipping seeing each lab has to ship part of the "up to 50 prints".

deb22

Help Please

Andy wrote:

Hi Anna Lisa, have you seen our full catalog pages? They're linked from every public smugmug.com page:
http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/ABP

in the footer.

There, each product has descriptions, and many (like the merchandise) have photos.

We're planning on adding some cool new pro tools to better show off what you sell, and what you sell it for, in the future - and more goodies in the cart, too.

There are two ways to buy - buy multiples (you have to choose what product you want to buy multiples of) or buy this photo - and there you can pick any product in the catalog.

Hi there Andy,I finally found that page for catalog. I then went to my site to try and buy a mug and no way can my photo fit even 1/2 of it, I did a very specific series of songbirds to go on mugs nic naks etc but none fit,It only allows for a very narrow portrait or landscape. Any ideas on how I can fix this. Here is an eg. of 1 of my 13 birds for mugs.[IMG][/img]

GJMPhoto

Allen wrote:

You can add a catalog link to your buy button, see #5 on this page.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=135068

See it in action, check my site and the buy button ... err ... purchase options button.

Beware...this customization no longer works. They changed the way the Buy Button is built when they added the packages option. JFriend is in touch with the developer looking for resolution.

I could be wrong, but if you're currently using this customization, it's broken now!

- Gary.

Andy

deb22 wrote:

Hi there Andy,I finally found that page for catalog. I then went to my site to try and buy a mug and no way can my photo fit even 1/2 of it, I did a very specific series of songbirds to go on mugs nic naks etc but none fit,It only allows for a very narrow portrait or landscape. Any ideas on how I can fix this. Here is an eg. of 1 of my 13 birds for mugs.[IMG][/img]

Order mugs with no-crop option and you can put almost anything on it

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Tips+for+Ordering+Mugs

deb22

Andy wrote:

Order mugs with no-crop option and you can put almost anything on it

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Tips+for+Ordering+Mugs

THANKS SO MUCH I DID NOT SEE THAT I'LL CHECK IT OUT.:D

Dog on the Rocks

Adding an intelligent merchadise page

deb22 wrote:

THANKS SO MUCH I DID NOT SEE THAT I'LL CHECK IT OUT.:D

It looks like this problem has not been resolved

What I am trying to do is provide a catalog of products with pictures for my
clients and I'm getting a little bogged down.

1.
I need a basic catalog (pdf, text or url without 3rd party
logos)(not to be confused with my Photography Catalogs) showing all the
standard products that clients can order direct from the Photography
Catalogs. No price explanation is needed because as you know, the pricing
opens when you select "buy"
2.
I need to create or have access to a "Custom Catalog" for all the
products that are not automatic. They need assembly like wedding albums,
mounting and framing, and fotofloats

Bay photo has a generic catalog which I put in my "products & services" nav
bar but this mixes the basic stuff with the custom stuff. I can break theirs
up into the different categories but I would rather stay with one
source...Smugmug

Are these things doable or am I dreaming?